Download The China-Burma-India Theater: A Forgotten War

The Round Tablette
March 2008
Volume 16 Number 7
Published by WW II History Roundtable
Edited by Jim Gerber
www.mn-ww2roundtable.org
Welcome to the March meeting of the
Dr. Harold C. Deutsch World War Two
History Roundtable. Tonight’s topic is the
China-Burma-India Theater and we are
privileged to have as our historian and guest
speaker, Al Lathrop. He is a former student
of Dr Deutsch’s and works in administration
at the University of Minnesota. He is
currently working on a book about the CBI
(China-Burma-India) theater. We are also
pleased to have several veterans of the CBI
with us tonight who will speak of their
experiences: Tim Bailey, glider pilot; Daniel
Novak, photographer; Art Pejsa, B-29 pilot;
and Alton Knutson, Francis Ponder, Calvin
Sass, and Davis Shryer, members of the
MARS Task Force.
CBI
The China-Burma-India Theater
(CBI) is often called “the forgotten war”. It
was fought over a formidable geographic
area, stretching from Manchuria to India,
yet details of it remain unknown and little
understood in the United States. American
air and ground forces in the CBI were at the
end of a long and dangerous supply line
stretching halfway around the world.
Overshadowed by the high-priority conflicts
in Europe and the Pacific, theater operations
were consistently crippled by inadequate
supplies of equipment and manpower.
Although the CBI was primarily a
British and Chinese theater of action, it was
created by the Joint Chiefs in early 1942 and
commanded by Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell
to aid and assist America’s allies in their war
against Japan. “Vinegar Joe” arrived in late
February to find his immediate priorities
were to organize an effective defense of
Burma and provide for orderly transfer of
lend-lease supplies and equipment to the
British and Chinese. After the loss of Burma
in May, Stilwell worked on plans for
reorganizing and rebuilding Chinese forces
in China and India for the anticipated
campaign to retake Burma and reopen the
overland transport to China.
U.S. Military activity in CBI chiefly
consisted of aerial combat and supply
operations in support of British and Chinese
forces. U.S. planes flew bombing missions
and air drops throughout southeast Asia and
ferried supplies and equipment over “the
Hump”, the mountains that separated
American bases in India from bases in
China. The route was extremely risky
because of the high altitudes, tricky weather,
and, until mid-1944, Japanese fighters
operating out of airfields in northern Burma,
resulting in the loss of many planes and
crews.
American ground action was limited
to combat engineers constructing the Ledo
(later Stilwell) Road from Ledo, India to
Mytikyina, Burma; Merrill’s Marauders, an
all-volunteer infantry outfit with the
unwieldy designation of 5307th Composite
Unit (Provisional); and its successor, MARS
Task Force (5307th Composite Unit
[Provisional]). The Marauders, along with
Chinese troops, fought through the daunting
mountain terrain and enervating climate of
northern Burma to secure the area in
advance of Ledo Road construction in the
first half of 1944. Finally, decimated by
disease, fatigue, and battle casualties, the
unit was disbanded by summer and replace
by MARS Task Force, formed from former
Marauders and replacements, who
conducted combat missions as far south as
Bhamo until fall.
Al Lathrop
Merrill’s Marauders
Those 3000 ‘misfits’, as on Army
officer put it, were sent to India, trained in
jungle warfare and designated the 5307th
Composite Unit, code name GALAHAD,
Stilwell’s long-time friend, Brig. Gen. Frank
D. Merrill, was placed in command, and the
unit was ready for action by early 1944.
Plans were drawn up for an offensive to
begin with a Chinese-American force
attacking North Burma, with the goal of
taking Myitkyina, which would remove the
threat of enemy fighter planes attacking
allied forces flying the hump. Stilwell also
planned to use Myitkyina as a bomber base
for attacks on the Japanese homeland.
Accompanied by two Chinese
divisions, Merrill’s Marauders, which was
now split into 3 battalions, began its trek
through the jungle-choked terrain of
Northeast Burma on February 24, 1944.
They quickly struck Japanese outposts all
along the Burma front, and by March 3, all
battalions had reached the main Japanese
line. After four days of harsh fighting, the
dug-in Japanese retreated.
The Marauders were reduced from
the original 3000 men to less than 1400 and
most of those soldiers were sick (jungle
disease), ill-equipped and tired. The men
were now looking forward to promised relief
and a long rest behind the lines. Stilwell had
other ideas. He wanted to launch a final
assault to capture Myitkyina and the
remaining Marauders would spearhead the
operation. On May 17, 1944, after a grueling
65-mile march over the 6000 ft. Kumon
Mountain range to Myitkyina, the
Marauders, along with several Chinese
regiments, attacked the unsuspecting
Japanese at the Myitkyina airfield. Success
came quickly at the airfield but the town
could not be immediately taken. The
Marauders successfully cut the Japanese
supply line into the city and in 2 weeks the
city fell to a Chinese attack. Despite constant
battles with the Japanese, malaria, dysentery
and scrub typhus, Merrill’s Marauders,
fought their way through 700 miles of
Burmese jungle over seven months.
More Reading On Tonight’s Topic:
Burma: The Longest War 1941 – 1945
By Louis Allen
The Jungle War
By Gerald Astor
The Army Air Forces in World War II: The
Pacific—Matterhorn to Nagasaki
By W. F. Craven and J. L. Cate
Spearhead: A Complete History of Merrill’s
Marauders Rangers
By James E. T. Hopkins
The Marauders
By Charlton Ogburn, Jr.
Marsmen In Burma
By John Randolph
Stilwell and the American Experience in
China
By Barbara Tuchman
The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the
China-Burma-India Theater in World War
II
By Donovan Webster
See You Next Month